I’m excited to announce our first ever multi-part workshop: The Art of Radio Documentary. In it, we’ll learn about radio documentary by actually making one, from start to finish. It’s a bit like will be a little like radio documentary boot camp, but warmer and kinder with no judgement attached. Here’s what it will look like:
We’ll hit the ground running with the first workshop (2/1, 5:30 pm). We have already picked a topic and done a little legwork. As a group we will create a focus sentence for the piece, and do some story structure work. Then we will have a crash course on recording gear and interview technique. We will give out some phone numbers or emails of people who have agreed to be interviewed, and send you off.
In between workshops you’ll meet with your subject and interview them for the piece. Don’t worry! I’ll be right there for moral and technical support. You can send me your interview questions to look over, and give me a call if any complications come up.
In the second workshop (2/17, 5:30 pm) we will cut the interviews that we recorded, taking out the most interesting quotes, and the ones most relevant to our story plan. I will go home with these and assemble a rough cut of the story.
In the third workshop (2/23, 5:30 pm), I will come in with a very rough cut of the story. We will listen to it and do an in-depth group edit. The group edit is the secret weapon of radio producers, the thing that makes a story really really good.
Then I will go home, incorporate the group edits, and send out an audio file for you to cherish eternally!
These workshops will be accessible if you’ve never touched an audio recorder in your life, and will still be useful if you have. You can register here. Hope you can make it!
-Ari
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